2026 Men's Rugby League World Cup qualification
| 2026 (2026) Rugby League World Cup qualification () | |
|---|---|
| Number of teams | 7 (from 4 confederations) |
< 2021 2030 > | |
The 2026 Men's Rugby League World Cup qualification will decide the teams that will join the quarter-finalists from the previous World Cup at the 2026 Rugby League World Cup. The location of the tournament is still yet to be announced.[1]
Qualification will begin in 2024 with European qualification tournament.[1]
Background
The allocation of teams for the 2026 World Cup was announced on 7 August 2023. The 2026 edition of the Rugby League World Cup will only feature ten men's teams, down from 16 in 2021. The eight quarter-finalists from the previous World Cup achieved automatic qualification, leaving two spots remaining for the qualification process.[1][2]
The qualification process for the 9th and 10th places will be a two stage process. The first stage is to establish the representatives from each of the four International Rugby League (IRL) confederations (Americas, Asia-Pacific, Europe, and Middle East-Africa) with those representatives advancing to the second and final round of qualification, the world Series to be played in 2025.
The process announced in August 2023 would have seen qualifying tournaments in all four confederations but subsequent changes by the IRL have changed this. In October 2023 IRL confirmed that only full members of the IRL can take place in the qualifying competition.[3] This left only Cook Islands (Asia-Pacific), Jamaica (Americas) and South Africa (Middle East-Africa) as the only full-member nations for their respective confederations, and therefore will automatically advance to the second round of qualification.
This leaves the European confederation as the only one to stage a confederation tournament to decide their second-round slot allocation.[1][2]
Following the conclusion of the European confederation qualification tournament, the 2025 World Series will take place.[1][2][3]
Qualified teams
| Team | Method of qualification | Date of qualification | Total times qualified | Last time qualified | Current consecutive appearances | Previous best performance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 New Zealand | 2021 Group C winners | 28 October 2022 | 17 | 2021 | 17 | Winners (2008) |
 England | 2021 Group A winners | 29 October 2022 | 8[a] | 2021 | 8 | Runners-up (1975, 1995, 2017) |
 Australia | 2021 Group B winners | 29 October 2022 | 17 | 2021 | 17 | Winners (12 times) |
 Fiji | 2021 Group B runners-up | 29 October 2022 | 7 | 2021 | 7 | Semi-finals (2008, 2013, 2017) |
 Lebanon[b] | 2021 Group C runners-up | 30 October 2022 | 4 | 2021 | 3 | Quarter-finals (2017, 2021) |
 Tonga | 2021 Group D winners | 30 October 2022 | 7 | 2021 | 7 | Semi-finals (2017) |
 Samoa | 2021 Group A runners-up | 30 October 2022 | 7 | 2021 | 7 | Runners-up (2021) |
 Papua New Guinea | 2021 Group D runners-up | 31 October 2022 | 9 | 2021 | 9 | Quarter-finals (2000, 2017, 2021) |
| TBC | World Series winners | 2025 | ||||
| TBC | World Series runners-up | 2025 |
European qualifying
The European confederation qualification tournament is scheduled to take place in 2024, with dates and venues to be announced. On 14 March 2024, Ireland, Italy and Scotland had their membership downgraded to affiliate members due to non-compliance with the membership policy, and as a result would no longer be eligible to participate in the World Cup qualification process.[4][5] The format of the tournament are still to be confirmed, but the winner of the tournament will advance to the World Series in 2025.[1]
Though the participating teams are still yet to be confirmed, the teams which are eligible to participate in the European qualification process are:
World Series
The 2025 World Series will be the inter-confederation qualification tournament for the 2026 Rugby League World Cup.[1] The winner and the runners-up will qualify for the World Cup.[2]
The confirmed participating nations for the tournament are:
Cook Islands
Jamaica
South Africa- Winner of European confederation qualification tournament.
Notes
- ^ a b Competed as part of Great Britain in nine previous tournaments, finishing as champions on three occasions (1954, 1960, 1972). The squads largely consisted of English players, but also featured Welsh players in every tournament. Scotland (1954, 1968, 1977, 1989–92) and Ireland (1957) were represented by native-born players in some tournaments.
- ^ On 14 March 2024, Lebanon had their membership downgraded from full to affiliate member, however as Lebanon had already qualified for the World Cup, their tournament status is unaffected.[4][5]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g "Rugby League World Cup qualification and World Series format revealed amid eligibility shakeup – The Roar". October 7, 2023.
- ^ a b c d "Rugby League World Cup qualification: Revamped tournament settles on new process". Sporting News. 8 October 2023. Archived from the original on 9 October 2023. Retrieved 5 April 2024.
- ^ a b "International Rugby League Board confirms details for World Series, World Cups". Rugby League International Federation. 7 October 2023. Retrieved 5 April 2024.
- ^ a b "International Rugby League Membership: Ireland, Italy, Lebanon, Scotland reclassified". Rugby League International Federation. 14 March 2024. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
- ^ a b "Scotland & Ireland see 2026 Rugby League World Cup qualification hopes ended". Love Rugby League. March 15, 2024.
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